Pelagius of Asturias

Pelagius (Spanish: Pelayo, Asturian: Pelayu; c. 685 – 737) was a Visigothic nobleman who founded the Kingdom of Asturias, ruling it from 718 until his death. Through his victory at the Battle of Covadonga, he is credited with beginning the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian peninsula from the Moors. He established an independent Christian state in opposition to Moorish hegemony.

The chief sources for Pelagius's life and career are two Latin chronicles written in the late ninth century in the kingdom he founded. The first is the Chronica Albeldensia, written at Albelda towards 881, and preserved in the Codex Vigilanus, with a continuation to 976. The latter is the Chronicle of Alfonso III, which was revised in the early tenth century and preserved in two textual traditions that diverge in several key passages: the Chronica Rotensis, preserved in the Roda Codex, and the Chronica ad Sebastianum, supposedly written by Sebastian, Bishop of Salamanca (910–913). The only likely earlier written sources from which these chroniclers could derive information are regnal lists.

Pelagius was a Visigoth nobleman, the son of Fafila. The Chronica Albeldensis says that this Fafila was a dux of Gallaecia, who was killed by Wittiza. The Chronicle of Alfonso III identifies Pelagius as a grandson of Chindasuinth and says that his father was blinded in Córdoba, at the instigation of Wittiza. Wittiza is also said to have exiled Pelagius from Toledo upon assuming the crown in 702. In the opinion of Collins, all of this is a late tradition.

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